College basketball legend Bob Knight returns to Indiana

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Former Indiana University Basketball Coach Bob Knight can still draw a crowd.

Hundreds of fans showed up Wednesday to the NCAA’s Hall of Champions for a signing of Knight’s new book: “The Power of Negative Thinking: An Unconventional Approach to Achieving Positive Results.”

Knight wrote the book with longtime friend and Bloomington Herald-Times Sportswriter, Bob Hammel.

Hammel said the title of the book began as a joke and then evolved into an idea for the book.

“It truly was the way he operated as a coach. His first thought every game was take away the things that can beat us, the negatives and it worked pretty well for him,” said Hammel.

Knight was known for having an explosive temper, but it seems now the coach has settled down a bit, but still has a feisty sense of humor.

Hammel said he and Knight had a good time writing the book and he hopes readers enjoy it.

“We had a lot of fun with it. There’s a great deal of humor involved in this one. The first book didn’t try to be funny, but this one – whether we achieved it or not – we tried to be funny,” laughed Hammel.

Fans lined up early and came by the hundreds to purchase a book and meet the legend.

“Coach Knight is my favorite so, we couldn’t wait to get here today,” said Melissa Vanhouton from Indianapolis.

“He is basketball. He was a legend at IU that’s for sure. He was a great basketball mind and it’s great to still see him active writing books and getting out and seeing people,” said Steve Shelby from Fishers.

Hammel said there is still a strong connection between Knight and many IU fans.

“There’s a real identification of him with them. He’s always talked about them every time he comes back to the state. He talks about the fans that followed Indiana basketball and continue to follow Indiana basketball,” said Hammel.

Coach Knight and Bob Hammel teamed up in 2003 and wrote their first book together. The book actually topped the New York Times Best Sellers List.